bloody 'ell, dog walker actually impressed me this afternoon.

was on my regular commute home this afternoon on my SS, part of my route takes me thru blaise estate near Henbury in Bristol. As i was dropping down a path a couple largedogs were approaching with the owner about 100yds behind pushin a pram, the owner then started to give some long blasts on a whistle and was also holding her hand up in a stop position, TBH I was thinking the cheeky cow is telling me to stop, But then to my surprise both dogs stopped still and one even sat its arse on the ground and didn't move as i cycled past. When I passed the owner i commented that i was impressed and thanked her as well.

makes a nice change from being barked at and chased and thats usually just the dog walkers.

The untrained ones are happy running along the verge, across the path etc out of my way, the well trained ones stop still off the path or return to their owner.

It's the other ones, running along the path

Owner: Fido Fido
Fido: Ooh, my mum is calling me, that means i must do something, i'm not sure what, i better stop where I am
Owner: fido fido
Fido: I don't know what she wants me to do, I'll just stop here, sideways across the path and look at her until I work it out

Nine times out of ten the dogs would ignore me if the owners weren't trying to get them to do something. It's nice that most people I meet care enough that they don't want their dogs to get in my way, but more often than not they make it worse.

At least it's getting light again now for commutes, the danger from dog walking ninjas is gone

On Cannock Chase there's a couple who walk about 7 dogs, collies i think (dogs not my thing), anyway they see you coming and one loud "sit" and all 7 instantly do exactly that - they only move their eyes when you ride past (the dogs not the owners!), nothing else! Truely astounding! The folks always seem pleasant and ok with us, we say hello and thanks, pass with care, mountain bikers and dog walkers in perfect harmony!

I had a similar encounter near Exeter recently, bloke with two scruffly wirehaired dogs. As I approached he gave one shout and they sat exactly where they were and stayed there. I gave him a big thank-you - I'd be very happy if that was the normal training for dogs near cycle paths.